May15, 2020

WASHINGTON, D.C. – House Armed Services Committee Chairman Adam Smith (D-Wash.) and Ranking Member Mac Thornberry (R-TX), today signed a bipartisan, bicameral letter to Secretary of State Michael Pompeo and Secretary of Defense Mark Esper in support of maintaining strong U.S. support to the Multinational Force and Observers (MFO) in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula.

Smith and Thornberry were joined by Senators Jim Risch (R-Idaho) and Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), chairman and ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.) and Jack Reed (D-R.I.), chairman and ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), chairman of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs, and Pat Leahy (D-Vt.), vice chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, in addition to Representatives Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.) and Michael McCaul (R-Texas), chairman and ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Nita Lowey (D-N.Y.), chairwoman of the House Committee on Appropriations, and Hal Rogers (R-Ky.), ranking member of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs.

“We are writing in support of maintaining strong U.S. support to the MFO in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula,” said the members. “The MFO’s credibility to both the Egyptian and Israeli governments depends, in large part, on America’s continued leadership role in the MFO, including the U.S. military men and women who are currently deployed to the Sinai Peninsula.”

“While resourcing the National Defense Strategy (NDS) means reexamining aspects of U.S. force posture in the Middle East, the U.S. should maintain adequate support for an organization that has bolstered regional stability through its peacekeeping role,” the members continued. “Failing to do so could result in a less stable Middle East and ultimately make it more difficult to implement the NDS.”